Search

Search form

News Brief

Canadian Multifamily Project Earns LEED Platinum

by Allyson Wendt

The two-story residential units at the Vento in Calgary, Alberta, open onto a shared courtyard, providing residents with access to the outdoors. The balconies also provide shading for the lower levels of the units.

Photo: Busby, Perkins + Will The Vento, an urban infill mixed-use project in Calgary, Alberta, designed by Perkins + Will for Windmill Development Group, earned a Platinum rating in the Canada Green Building Council’s LEED Rating System, making it the first multifamily residential project to do so. Twenty two-story townhouse suites are situated above ground-floor retail spaces in the project, which also contains two affordable housing units. Heat-recovery ventilators, high-performance windows, and occupancy sensors for lighting help conserve energy, making the building 47% more efficient than required by the Model National Energy Code, according to modeling. Decks on the units provide shading from unwanted solar heat gain. Rainwater and graywater are collected and used for flushing toilets and irrigation; the project uses approximately 50% less potable water than a comparable development built to code.